Colonization in Asia
Gilbert Lawrence
Why did Western Europe colonize the World?
The Portuguese came to the East with the ostensible goal of seeking wealth by finding spices, converting, and saving souls. This is repeated by historians and other recent writers who repeat the clichés. Now, likely the AI-enthused scripts are likely to echo the same message, while writers draw obvious conclusions and slip into generalities.
The 15th century was the Renaissance. Portugal, like the rest of Europe, was poor, having emerged from the Dark Ages, with regional conflicts such as the Reconquista, the Crusades, epidemics, and a growing population. Some claim that the expanding population, poverty, and deprivation of the serfs in the medieval period turbocharged the sudden onset of greed at any cost, to take unreasonable risks to expand. Exploration was Europe’s MO to solve its triple problems: Economic decline, population growth, and an outlet for its knights to display their prowess abroad rather than at home (now that the Crusades and Reconquista ended).
The super-sized revenues from the Asian spice-textile trade and gold were Iberia’s goal. Eastern & Central Europe, caught in internal & external military, religious (Reformation & counter-Reformation), & economic conflicts, were concerned about Islamic Turkey at their eastern gates. The Iberian countries elected to expand west across the Atlantic & into the unknown world. Portugal and Spain used the geographical advantage, technical superiority in sailing, and military use of gunpowder in muskets and cannons, plus their political (government-backed) success and social superiority of working together to expel the Moors. Intra-Iberian competition accelerated the process. Their brutality & overkill in victory compounded and rapidly consolidated their success. The revenues from the Asian spice-textile trade and gold were Iberia’s goal. Starving Turkey-Egypt of spice revenues would reduce its financial resources and ability to carry out incessant attacks on Europe. Egypt’s interests lay in the Red Sea; Ottoman Turks focused on the Levant, Mediterranean, & Gulf. By outflanking the M-E, the Islamic wealth & expansion would be stemmed; their threat to Europe reduced despite the fall of Byzantium in 1453. The stated goal in Europe was to contain the power of Islamic countries to spare Europe.
While the colony in Goa was established in 1510, the first reported conversion occurred in 1535. That refutes Lisbon’s oft-quoted aim of coming to the East for “Spices and Souls.” There was a lot more spices sent to Lisbon’s king from 1498 (when da Gama landed in India) before any Asian Christian soul was offered to the King of Heaven. To expand and consolidate the spice trade, Don Manuel (DM) embarked on Conquest and Control. By 1515, under the conquering zeal of Pedro Alvares Cabral (1500-02), Vasco da Gama (second 1502-03 armada), Tristão da Cunha (1504), Francisco de Almeida (1505-09), and Afonso de Albuquerque (1509-1515), the Portuguese maritime empire of multiple toeholds across Africa and Asia was fait accompli. The foothold established in Asia at Goa became the capital of the Estado da India-Portuguesa. Lisbon had established the largest maritime empire in history across the Indian Ocean and enforced the hegemony of Pax Lusitania.
Satisfied with his lucrative trade and extensive empire, DM forgot about spreading the ‘Word of Christ.’ The frustrated Pope dispatched Francis Xavier (Feast Day- December 3), a co-founder of the Jesuits, to Goa to start the job. He arrived in May 1542. Bardez and Salcete were ceded to the Portuguese in 1543. Likely, the Muslim population of the two talukas evacuated to neighboring Muslim-ruled areas like Ponda. Francis Xavier had little success in Goa; he stayed there for only four months. His letters to the king recount his frustrations with the colonial brutality, for which he bluntly wrote the king that he would be responsible on judgment day. Despite arriving 25 years AFTER the maritime empire was fully established, the Indian (including Goan) and European pundits and some historians, in a broad brush, fault the Spanish priest with the violence of establishing the Portuguese empire, and displacing the natives to make room for the colonizers. At most feitorias, the Lusitano was invited to set up a post and be a trading partner, to help local farmers and traders, and act as a counterweight to protect the vassal ruler from the traditional regional hegemon – Kilwa in East Africa; Calicut and Moghul in South and North India, respectively. By 1515, Pax Lusitania, with its choke points, cartazes, and tolls, replaced Pax Ismailia. The Portuguese Xerafins (gold coin) were legal tender with the colonial mint in Bassein.
Like the Vikings, the Iberians, and England on the fringes of Europe, looked west to expand and for its riches, while Central & Eastern Europe, including Russia & Turkey, devoured each other & their own people to hold on to power, expand their territories, and preserve their status. The rabid imperial activities across Europe saw almost no limit to the cost of lives and treasure to realize the goals of the individual king and the collective obsession. The urgency for Europe to have colonies was as an outlet for its slumped wool industry, and the lucrative trade & profit in spices. France invaded Italy. For Spain, Portugal, England, and Dutch it was looking across the Atlantic. Colonies were a dumping ground for an unwanted population of poor, prisoners, a burgeoning population recovering from the medieval period, and restless knights, who, after the Reconquista and Crusades, had no one to fight at home except the aristocratic powerholders. For London, the colonies (including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) were a place to unload the restless Scots and Irish, thus depriving their homeland of the manpower to fight for freedom. For the king and his country, the colonies were a counterweight to the bigger and richer rivals in Europe.
In the medieval era, the greed to make money took the façade of promoting religion (giving indulgences to save souls). In the Era of Exploration, Discovery, and Expansion, it had pretensions to promote religion. This was a period where rulers, priests, and the populace were universally illiterate. While professing a goal and desire to convert the natives, who were soon forgotten on landing, they were overtaken by greed and lust for gold, spices, slaves, and riches. This was seen along the west coast of Africa and in Asia. For whatever reason, current politicians & academics sugarcoat the colonists’ goals with higher motivation as doing a favor, and serving as justification to exploit and suppress the colonized natives. It is time we are informed of the events that actually occurred. In Goa, the frequent Bijapur-Hampi clashes of the 15th century were replaced by a series of Lusitano-Bijapur clashes in the 16th century, and frequent Lusitano-Maratha clashes in the 17th and 18th centuries. Defending the far-flung empire from native competitors on land and European rivals at sea eroded the colonial wealth that Europe had accumulated. In Europe, colonial powers incessantly fought among themselves from the 16th century, ending in World Wars I and II in the 20th century.
Native conversion was very slow going, mainly because the arriving priests were mainly to serve the early settlers, the army, and sailors. Additionally, they did not know the native language and thus could not communicate with the denizens. They also had to learn the philosophy and dogmas of the natives to make the new religion familiar and relatable to their thinking, values, and beliefs. Konkani, the spoken language, had to be learnt by linguists like the Englishman Fr. Thomas Stephens/ Estevao SJ, then put it to script (likely Devanagari and Kannadi) after developing a grammar. The oral dialect then had to be adapted to a Latin script to teach the new language to the European priests coming to Goa. Asia’s first printing press at Goa was undoubtedly working overtime. Fr. Estevao’s Krista-Purana in Marathi (Devanagri script) was required reading, becoming popular in Kanada lands. Soon, Konkani works in five scripts (including Arabic and Malayali) appeared in print along with many translations of the bible and works of Indian and European writers. The European priests were profoundly confused and muddled with the natives’ fusion of local culture, attire, diet, loyalties, and everyday practices with European ritual. Undoubtedly, some priests and European settlers were rigid in their thinking, and the ruling bureaucrats felt the need for a homogenous population, be it Indian or European, which would make it easier to govern.
Fr. Cosme Jose Costa SFX (Society of Pilar), in Christianity and Nationalism in Aldona (the largest village in Bardez), reports that in 1555, the Viceroy Pedro Mascarenhas split the tasks in the three talukas among the religious Orders to avoid them intruding on each other's jurisdiction. In India (Hindu and Muslim rule) and in Europe, the principle followed by the kings was Cujust regio ejus religio, the religion of the king is the religion of the subjects. These types of principles cannot be accepted in secular democracies of today. The Franciscans were tasked with Bardez and its fifteen major villages, and the Jesuits the 66 villages of Salcete. The villages of Tiswadi were parceled out among the Dominicans (15 villages in the north-western sector) and the Jesuits (remaining 15 villages in the south-east, including Chorao & Divar). After this assignment, there were increased activities in conversion and building churches in the various villages in the latter half of the 16th century. However, one should not overlook that the likely majority of the burgeoning population were the recent European settlers, the 2nd and 3rd generation of whites and mestizos born in Goa.
Alphie Monteiro in The Bardeskars: The Mystery of Migration reports the early converts in Aldona around 1569. Anant Kamotim/ Kamath was one of twelve gaunkars / original settlers present at the meeting held in 1595, and donated 125 gold coins for the construction of St. Thomas Church, reflecting the growing membership. The donation on behalf of all the Bamon Vangods-Gaunkars to upgrade the chapel does not sound like the community was persecuted and converted. It reflects the generosity of the Hindus and their stewardship of village-wide institutions (temples, churches, public lands), even if they are foreign. The village churches, on their part, had a reputation for starting western-style village schools, with books, pencils, and teaching the 4Rs of education. This likely was not lost on the Saraswat Brahmins, who valued learning. Church history suggests much of the early conversion in Bardez was during 1600-25, long after Hindu persecution to displace them and make room for White settlers. The Vangod of the Gaunkars, original settlers, became the communidad and was a forerunner of the current village panchayat system.
As Shashi Tharoor wisely stated, “If you do not know where you have been, how do you know where you seek to go? History belongs in the past, but understanding it is the duty of the present.”
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Extracted from “Insights into Colonial Goa” Published by Amazon in paperback and other formats. For details about the book and authors, click Insights into Colonial Goa. The e-book is available in India and can be purchased with Rupees. In the West, the book is also available in paperback. The Fourth Edition, with an emphasis on the Diaspora, is now available Insights into Colonial Goa: Lawrence, Philomena, Lawrence, Gilbert A: Amazon.es: Libros
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Frederick Noronha
1. "Portugal, like the rest of Europe, was poor... emerging from the Dark Ages."
By the 15th century, Europe was not emerging from the “Dark Ages”. The term is outdated. The Renaissance and late medieval period saw growth, urbanisation, banking, universities and significant prosperity in many regions.
2. "Expansion was Europe’s MO to solve its triple problems: Economic decline, population growth, and knights with nothing to do."
Highly reductive; the motives for Iberian expansion included: access to African gold, maritime competition with Muslim powers, search for direct Asian trade routes, and dynastic politics. It was not a generalized European demographic crisis.
3. "The super-sized revenues from the Asian spice-textile trade and gold were Iberia’s goal."
Oversimplifies: Portugal’s primary Asian objective was spices. Portugal did not control the textile trade, which was dominated by Indian producers. Spanish colonial wealth came largely from American silver, not Asian trade.
4. "Starving Turkey–Egypt of spice revenues would reduce its resources to attack Europe."
Portugal did attempt to bypass the Red Sea trade, but the “attack Europe” framing is exaggerated. It is incorrect to suggest that the Ottomans were planning invasions of Europe from spice revenue.
5. "By 1515…the Portuguese maritime empire… was fait accompli."
Incorrect. In 1515 major centres like Hormuz and Goa were taken, but Malacca (1511) was only recently conquered, and Diu (1535/1546), Bassein (1534), Ceylon (mid-16th c.), Mombasa (1593) and others came decades later.
The empire was not “complete”.
6. "Don Manuel forgot about spreading the Word; the Pope sent Francis Xavier in frustration."
Misleading: Dom Manuel I actively promoted missionary activity via the Padroado Real.
Xavier was sent by Ignatius Loyola at the request of the Portuguese crown, not because the Pope was frustrated.
7. “Francis Xavier stayed only four months in Goa.”
Xavier spent multiple periods in Goa, totalling nearly two years, including extended stays between missions.
8. “At most feitorias, the Portuguese were invited… as a counterweight.”
Partly true for some places. But in many places Portuguese presence was imposed (Calicut, Malacca, East Africa, Gujarat).
9. “By 1515, Pax Lusitania… replaced Pax Ismailia.”
Anachronistic. 200 years of Pax Romana gave internal stability, brought large territories under a unified administration, allowed long-distance trade to flourish, and major wars within the empire were relatively few. At least that's what we believe.
In “Pax Lusitana” of this period, there was no stable ‘peace’ regime. “Pax Ismailia” is not a recognised historical concept.
10. “The Portuguese Xerafins (gold coin) were legal tender with the colonial mint in Bassein.”
Xerafins circulated, but Portuguese mints in India did not produce gold coins; most Xerafims were silver currency.
11. “England sent Scots and Irish to colonies to deprive their homeland of manpower to fight for freedom.”
Historically false. Scots and Irish migrations were shaped by plantation policies, penal transportation, famine, land dispossession and economic pressures. Not a deliberate plan to “deprive homeland of fighters”.
12. “Rulers, priests and populace were universally illiterate.”
Completely inaccurate. Literacy among clergy, bureaucrats, merchants, and elites was substantial. “Universal illiteracy” is untenable. More so among these dominant classes of the time.
13. “Fr. Thomas Stephens put Konkani to script (likely Devanagari and Kannadi).”
Incorrect. Konkani existed in Modi, Hala-Kannada, Nagari and Perso-Arabic scripts in use before the arrival of the Europeans. Stephens wrote in Roman script; he did not invent any script for Konkani. Books were being printed in Romi/Roman before him. Likewise, the time at which different Konkani scripts made it to print seems jumbled or misleading here.
14. “Konkani works in five scripts including Arabic and Malayali appeared soon.”
Perso-Arabic script Konkani existed earlier in coastal writing traditions; Malayalam-script Konkani emerged much later. The statement conflates timelines.
15. “Majority of Goa’s population in the early period were recent European settlers or mestizos.”
Factually wrong. European and mestiço populations were always a tiny minority compared to the indigenous Goan population.
16. “In Bardez, most conversion was during 1600–1625.”
Not accurate; the main wave occurred in the 1550s–1580s, after Bardez (1543) and Salcete were incorporated. By 1600, most villages had already built churches.
Roland Francis
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Gilbert Lawrence
Thanks for your comments on our article. I especially like the point-by-point rebuttal as they are specific and targeted and not a critique by broad strokes.
For starters, our book and our articles are ‘Insights into Colonial Goa’. It is not a “History of Colonial Goa.” We have written, because many articles on Goa overlook the forest for the trees. So, for example:
SFX is often accused of being part of the Portuguese militant colonization, as in an article last year (the year of his exposition) in a Goan paper by a prominent Goan. The colonization you quote occurred many years after SFX died. SFX is often blamed for the Mangalorean tragic forced march, which occurred 200 years after SFX expired.
To your specific points:
1. The Dark Ages ended in the 14th century. So in the 15th century, Portugal, like the rest of Europe, was emerging from the Dark Ages. The Renaissance started in Italy. Portugal was one of the last places to experience the Renaissance and the “urbanisation, banking, universities and significant prosperity in many regions,” if at all.
2. While Europe had broad reasons to expand, every country had its own targeted reasons and excuses to expand beyond its borders.
3. Iberian had its goals – to imitate the wealth of Venice and Florence. It does not mean it achieved all those ‘pies in the sky’ dreams. If the Indian producers dominated the textile trade (since Roman times), it does not mean the Iberians could not be part of that revenue stream. That is what trade is all about – all participants get rich.
4. From an Asian perspective, Turkey’s attacks on Eastern Europe (at the gates of Vienna) were irrelevant. Yet it was very relevant to Europeans. One of Turkey's main sources of revenue was the Silk Road Trade, which made many Central Asian countries and cities like Samarkand very rich.
5. Answered above
6. Can you explain in detail this point? Thanks
7. SFX stays in Goa between missions was not a conversion effort, but rather to see the progress of his pet project – St. Paul’s College and the growth of the Jesuit mission in the East.
8. The four places you quote are part of the more than 100 feitorias Portugal established along the African-Asian coastline.
9. You will need to explain and clarify this. Just because Pax Lusitania and Pax Islamiyah are not historical concepts does that mean that a Goan cannot come up with that model? Do only Anglo-American writers have to come up with new thinking? Do we need their validation? The first 150 years of Lusitano hegemony were pretty peaceful along the sea lanes, other than pirates. As peaceful or as turbulent as during Pax Britannia.
10. Portugal had access to West African gold, while it got the silver from trading with the Spanish in the Philippines.
11. Don’t expect the Anglo-Saxon history books and publications to tell you how the English treated the Scots and the Irish. Most British soldiers who came to India were Scots and Irish, while their officers were English. Shashi Tharoor makes it a point in his Edinburgh debate to point out that now that the UK no longer has its colonies, it has to deal with its restless Scots and Irish parliaments. Being a resident of Goa and not following Western media, perhaps you could be excused from this aspect of colonial history.
12. The overall population of Europe in the 16th -18th century was pretty illiterate and came from large families. Most of the nuns and priests got their basic education in the seminary.
14. Yes, my statement of when various Konkani scripts came into being conflates timelines. One has to separate writings from religious texts.
15. Can you provide us with the demographics of Goa in the 1550s? Thank you.
16. The information I obtained was from the two Goan authors that I quote in the text. Perhaps you can read them and corroborate my findings.
Thanks to you and others for reading our article. Thank you again for your point-by-point analysis.
Best wishes to all members of the club
Regards, Gilbert
Vivek Pinto
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Selma Carvalho
Gilbert Lawrence
Eric Pinto
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Vivek Pinto
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Gilbert Lawrence
Thanks for your comments and kind remarks. The controversy generated by our article permitted us to identify the controversy the paper is trying to address – ‘the Search for Spices and Souls’ theory of colonization.
Regards, Gilbert.
PS: I should have used the term Middle Ages instead of referring to its first half, the Dark Ages. Yet, the politico-socio-economic conditions did not change appreciably in Portugal. I am eagerly awaiting some enlightening facts from Federico, as he is the walking encyclopedia of Goa facts.
Frederick Noronha
Here is a continuation from my earlier comments... the numbers given are serial numbers of this post, and may not tally with the earlier serials. These are what I see as the still unaddressed issues.
My debate is not so much about when the "Dark Ages" ended, but rather about the concept of the "Dark Ages" itself.
The very idea of the “Dark Ages” is now widely questioned because it was never a neutral historical term but a polemical one, invented and popularised in early modern Europe to contrast a supposedly ignorant, superstitious medieval past with a rational, progressive present (of those times). Many historians argue that Protestant scholars in the 16th-18th centuries used the label to distance themselves from their Catholic medieval heritage. They thus depicted it as a period of corruption, stagnation and Papal domination. On the other hand, they presented their own era as enlightened, scientific, and morally superior. In reality, the Middle Ages saw major achievements in law, philosophy, architecture, agriculture and learning. So, the “Dark Ages” stereotype now says more about early modern ideological battles than about medieval Europe itself.
I note that you are ceding ground in this point in your later posts.
2. THE RENAISSANCE DEBATE: "The Renaissance started in Italy. Portugal was one of the last places to experience the Renaissance and the 'urbanisation, banking, universities and significant prosperity in many regions,' if at all."
It’s true that the Renaissance began in Italy and spread unevenly across Europe. But it's misleading to say Portugal was “one of the last” or that it “barely experienced” it. Portugal did not undergo the same intense urbanisation, banking revolutions or dense university culture found in Italy, Flanders or parts of Germany. Its towns were smaller no doubt, and its mercantile class was thinner. However, Portugal was not culturally isolated: Renaissance humanism reached the royal court early (sometime in the late 1400s), the monarchy sponsored translations of classical texts, and Portuguese art, architecture (e.g. Manueline style), cartography, and scientific navigation were visibly shaped by Renaissance ideas. What Portugal lacked by way of commercial-urban dynamism, it compensated for with maritime expansion, which created its own channels of knowledge exchange.
Portugal experienced the Renaissance differently rather than belatedly. Less through urban capitalism and university life, and more through courtly humanism, navigation and imperial expansion.
3. EUROPE'S EXPANSION AND 'OVERPOPULATION': "Colonies were a dumping ground for an unwanted population of poor, prisoners, a burgeoning population recovering from the medieval period...."
Portugal was not overpopulated, nor facing population pressure, when it launched its overseas explorations in the late 15th century. In fact, Portugal had a very small population in the late 1400s — roughly 1 to 1.5 million people. This was not considered high for its territory. In fact, Portugal often suffered from labour shortages, especially after the Black Death. Chronic shortage of manpower led to a reliance on enslaved labour (from North Africa and later West Africa). Exploration was driven by a maritime elite, not by pressure from peasants seeking land.
Motivations were not demographic. Unlike some later colonial powers (e.g., England in the 17th century), Portugal was not sending excess population abroad. Colonisation pattern reflects this. Early Portuguese “colonies” were mostly trading posts (feitorias), forts, and naval bases. They did not involve large-scale Portuguese settlement or migration.
Its motivations lay elsewhere:
- Control of trade routes to Asia
- Access to gold, spices and slaves
- Religious and ideological motives (including the crusading spirit)
- Strategic competition with Castile
4. "While Europe had broad reasons to expand, every country had its own targeted reasons and excuses to expand beyond its borders."
European expansion was driven by shared structural forces, such as trade competition, access to resources, religious ideology and new maritime technologies; but each kingdom had its own political constraints, ambitions, and opportunities.
Portugal’s overseas push was shaped by a combination of factors specific to its situation. For instance, its long Atlantic coastline, its early mastery of navigation, the need to break Muslim-controlled trade routes, its pursuit of prestige after the Reconquista, and a small population seeking wealth abroad. Rather than “excuses”, these were strategic motivations.
In your earlier post, you had explained this as being due to "Economic decline, population growth, and knights with nothing to do." That does not seem a rather convincing explanation in itself.
5. "IBERIAN GOALS" "Iberian had its goals – to imitate the wealth of Venice and Florence."
This doesn't seem to match with reality.
Venice and Florence operated within existing Eurasian commercial systems. Portugal and Spain, by contrast, sought to bypass, control or replace those systems. Especially the Muslim-dominated and Indian-dominated routes that had functioned for centuries. The Iberian crowns were not aiming merely to "be part of the revenue stream" but to capture monopoly profits, impose armed trading stations, extract tribute and redirect flows of wealth into their own ports.
6. TURKEY AND THE SILK ROAD: "One of Turkey's main sources of revenue was the Silk Road Trade, which made many Central Asian countries and cities like Samarkand very rich."
A mix-up in chronology. By that time, the overland Silk Road had largely lost its prior importance. The shift to maritime trade (especially after European sea-power rose) diminished the volume and profitability of long overland caravans.
The claim that “one of Turkey’s main sources of revenue was the Silk Road trade” is historically dubious. While the Ottomans did benefit from certain trade routes and taxed goods through their domains, by the 16th century the bulk of Asian-European trade increasingly bypassed overland routes in favour of sea routes, undermining any monopoly the Ottomans might have had on overland transit.
Consequently, the idea that Central Asian cities like Samarkand remained as rich or as integral to Eurasian trade by that later period is overstated. Their historical wealth came largely from earlier eras, when overland caravans dominated. But once sea-based trade took over, their centrality declined.
5. PORTUGUESE EMPIRE FAIT ACCOMPLI BY 1515: "By 1515…the Portuguese maritime empire… was fait accompli."
My earlier comment: Incorrect. In 1515 major centres like Hormuz and Goa were taken, but Malacca (1511) was only recently conquered, and Diu (1535/1546), Bassein (1534), Ceylon (mid-16th c.), Mombasa (1593) and others came decades later.
In addition: The claim that by 1515 the Portuguese maritime empire was a fait accompli is misleading because in 1515 the empire was still fragile and constantly contested. It was far from a settled or consolidated system.
The Estado da Índia lent on vulnerable coastal fortresses and unstable alliances. Supply lines were uncertain. EdI faced strong and continuing resistance from the Mamluks, Ottomans, Venetians, Gujaratis, the Zamorin of Calicut, and local merchant networks. Key routes such as the Red Sea, Persian Gulf and Bay of Bengal were far from controlled. Even in the Arabian Sea the cartaz system was incomplete and frequently defied. Many of the positions later considered “core” (such as Hormuz, Malacca, Diu’s consolidation, Sri Lanka, East African bases) were either newly captured, only nominally held or under negotiation. In 1515, the Portuguese empire was not a done deal. It was an uncertain and overstretched project.
It needed to keep expanding even after 1515. Hormuz was taken in 1515, followed by Bassein (Vasai) not far north from us in 1534; Diu became a formal Portuguese possession after the 1535 alliance with the Sultan of Gujarat and was fully fortified after the 1538 siege; Macau was effectively acquired in 1557 as a leased settlement from China; Daman was seized in 1559; and in East Africa, Mombasa was reoccupied in 1593 after earlier uncertain control. These places were crucial to sustain the Portuguese thalassic (maritime) empire.
Each post acquired after 1515 functioned as crucial nodes in a controlled network of sea routes, choke points or commercial monopolies. Hormuz allowed Portugal to dominate the entrance to the Persian Gulf; Diu, Daman, and Bassein consolidated its hold on the Gujarat-Red Sea spice and textile circuits; Macau opened a regulated gateway into the immensely profitable China–Japan trade; and fortified East African stations like Mombasa secured the Mozambique Channel and the flow of gold, ivory plussupplies that supported the India armada. These areas mattered more in strategic terms to the Portuguese than landmass. They were small, strongly fortified enclaves, placed at key junctures, that allowed Lisbon to tax ships, control maritime circulation and extract monopoly profits at significant levels.
6. RE-EXPLANATION: The point repeated below is simple to the extreme, and should not need any re-explanation. As far as "frustration" goes, I'm quoting your word.
"Don Manuel forgot about spreading the Word; the Pope sent Francis Xavier in frustration."
Misleading: Dom Manuel I actively promoted missionary activity via the Padroado Real.
Xavier was sent by Ignatius Loyola at the request of the Portuguese crown, not because the Pope was frustrated.
In your earlier post, you had written: “Francis Xavier stayed only four months in Goa.”
I am responding to the accuracy of the number of the months you mention. You have shifted grounds to what purpose he supposedly was in Goa for. That is irrelevant as far as accuracy goes.
8. PORTUGUESE BEING INVITED AT MOST FEITORIAS
“At most feitorias, the Portuguese were invited… as a counterweight.”
9. NEW "PAX" CONCEPTS: PAX LUSITANIA OR PAX ISLAMIYAH
Inventing heuristic models is legitimate. The heuristic model is a simplified or practical way to understand more complex realities, not intended to be a precise or fully accurate representation of the world, but just a useful way to think about it. Scholars frequently propose analogues like “Pax Romana” or “Pax Britannica” to reflect hegemonic ordering. But they must be used carefully.
Early Portuguese dominance produced intervals of relative order on specific sea-lanes, yet it was never as globally systemic or institutionally backed as Pax Romana or Pax Britannica. Lusitanic control was spatially patchy. It was heavily dependent on naval superiority and local alliances. It provoked resistance and reprisals.
This is not about Brown man versus White man racism. But Because Pax Lusitania and Pax Islamiyah lack the institutional coherence that defined, say, Pax Romana or Pax Britannica. Btw, there is also some acceptance for Pax Mongolica, Pax Ottomana, Pax Sinica, Pax Nipponica, Pax Hispanica and Pax Americana. (Global migration circa 2025 is attempting to bring about Pax Indica, but that's entirely a different matter.)
10. “The Portuguese Xerafins (gold coin) were legal tender with the colonial mint in Bassein.”
This is just a factual detail---most Xerafims were silver currency. Not gold.
11. ILLITERATES IN THE MEDIEVAL ERA
Compare your two statements:
(i) In the medieval era, the greed to make money took the façade of promoting religion (giving indulgences to save souls). In the Era of Exploration, Discovery, and Expansion, it had pretensions to promote religion. This was a period where rulers, priests, and the populace were universally illiterate. While professing a goal and desire to convert the natives, who were soon forgotten on landing, they were overtaken by greed and lust for gold, spices, slaves, and riches
(ii) The overall population of Europe in the 16th -18th century was pretty illiterate and came from large families. Most of the nuns and priests got their basic education in the seminary.
There is a clear shift in the grounds of argument, and it weakens the coherence of the overall claim.
(i) makes a moral–structural argument. It asserts that greed hid behind religion, that rulers and clergy were “universally illiterate”, and that missionary motives were largely a façade for economic exploitation during the Age of Exploration. The focus is on political economy, ideology and historical behaviour.
(ii) switches to a sociological–demographic claim about literacy levels and family size in Europe and the education of clergy. Instead of supporting the earlier argument about exploitation and hypocrisy, it introduces broader (and vaguer) generalisations about European society that don’t directly connect to the claim that colonial actors used religion as a cover for profit-seeking.
12. ON THOMAS STEPHENS: "Can you provide me with the names of books written in Roman script before Stephens'?:
Compare these two arguments which you made:
(i) Konkani, the spoken language, had to be learnt by linguists like the Englishman Fr. Thomas Stephens/ Estevao SJ, then put it to script (likely Devanagari and Kannadi) after developing a grammar.
(ii) Can you provide me with the names of books written in Roman script before Stephens'?
There is a shift of ground that is both subtle but important.
(i) makes a historical-linguistic claim:
- That Konkani had to be learned and then put into script by someone like Thomas Stephens, implying that Konkani was not already written (or at least not systematised) before him.
- This statement sets up an argument about origin, authorship and firstness in Konkani writing traditions.
instead of defending the claim that Konkani had no written form before Stephens,
- It asks for names of works in Roman script prior to Stephens.
- Probably in the form of books, and printed ones at that.
- This shifts the discussion from “Was Konkani unwritten?” to “Was Konkani written (and printed/preserved) in Roman script before Stephens?”
Incidentally, contrary to what you write, the Krista Purana was not written in Devanagari by Fr. Thomas Stephens. It was composed in Marathi-Konkani but written in the Roman script. There is no evidence that Stephens himself wrote or authorised a Devanagari version. The Devanagari-script versions that circulate today are 19th–20th century transcriptions made much later by scholars and missionaries. Later editors (such as the 'Pandita Ramabai version', or that by Goa University's S.M. Tadkodkar, etc.) produced Devanagari editions. But these are modern editions, not original manuscripts.
13. FOREIGN POPULATION IN GOA
The problem is that you first make a sweeping, unsubstantiated claim, that the “majority” of Goa’s early-colonial population consisted of Europeans or mestiços. See in the thread above. Then you shift the burden of proof to me by asking for demographic data from the 1550s, a period for which no systematic censuses exist and whose population figures can only be reconstructed indirectly.
Available scholarship is unanimous that Europeans were always a tiny minority in Goa: even at their peak in the 16th–17th centuries. Estimates place them at only a few thousand individuals versus hundreds of thousands of native population. Disney, Boxer, Teotonio R de Souza make your claim historically untenable.
14. BARDEZ CONVERSIONS
You wrote: "In Bardez, most conversion was during 1600–1625.”
The bulk of conversions in Bardez took place between about 1560 and 1595, with the most intense phase occurring in the 1570s–1580s. See TRdeS's Medieval Goa (esp chapter on conversions in the 'Novas Conquistas'; Disney A History of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire, Vol II, sections on Goa; and Boxer The Portuguese Seaborne Empire). All broadly concur that Bardez’s conversion wave was concentrated in the third quarter of the 16th century.
FN
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Roland Francis
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Gilbert Lawrence
Gilbert Lawrence
Thank you for your detailed response, which I am sure took much thought and patience. I welcome dialogue and find it refreshing to encounter a contrarian point of view. None of us has the final word on the subject we write about. I really like the specific, pointed rebuttals. The analysis you provide is valuable. I hope you appreciate my counterpoints as improving and sharpening your own perspective. In my response, I will preserve the pattern you set.
I do want to make sure our efforts do not make us lose sight of the topic of dialogue, "Why did Western Europe colonize the World?" (in the 15th / early 16th century), or else we will be catching the bull by its tail. In rebutting my writing, your main thrust appears to be that the customary Western Colonization was driven by the Search for Spices (wealth) and Souls. The best way to answer this question is for Western historians to describe this period in Western Europe, which Asian scholars may overlook due to a lack of access to their history.
Here are my responses:
1. As you surely know, the Dark Ages were the first half of the Middle Ages. Yet these are not compartmentalized in real life and in all places. The Black Plague, a hallmark of the Dark Ages, affected parts of Europe till 1800. You are right, the Dark Ages devastated Europe's population, but by the second half of the Middle Ages, that population had fully recovered - long before the Age of Exploration, Discovery, and Expansion.
Much of Portugal's Renaissance (Manueline Style) came after colonization, and the spice wealth started flowing to Portugal in the mid-16th century, not before colonization.
3. Most Western historians write about the concerns Europe's royalty had about the returning knights from the Crusades, the Reconquista, causing turmoil at home. Many attribute the reasons for Europe to continue its internal wars to keep these knights occupied, instead of challenging the Absolute Monarchs. While most of Europe disbanded its knights into civilian organizations, Portugal and Spain preserved the knighthoods in their countries. The Reconquista ended in 1492, the same year Columbus explored America.
The poster-child for Portugal sending its inmates and the unwanted to the colonies was none other than Luís Camões, who in the 1550s was given the choice of prison or Goa.
4. and 5. We are both saying the same thing!
6. I am talking about the Silk Road Trade before colonization (14th and 15th centuries). You are referring to the post-colonial period (16th and 17th centuries). The Ottoman Turks have been besieging what today is Greece, the former Yugoslavia countries, Bulgaria, and Hungary since the mid-14th century. They conquered Constantinople in 1453 (mid-15th century) and were on the March to Vienna, which they first besieged in 1529. I would strongly encourage the readers to see the map of Eastern Europe and look at the distance between Turkey and Austria, and the many countries lying in between them.
9-12. Many of these points have little to do with the main topic of this presentation. My article was not an essay on the Konknai language. So many of your comments about the language are catching the bull by the tail. I agree with you that Stephen wrote in the Roman script and not the Devanagari script. Despite your claim, you cannot provide the names of any books written in the Roman script before Stephen's arrival. Would it be too much to also expect one to back up their rebuttals, and thereby really educate the rest of us? Or do rebuttals get a free ride, with no references to back them?
My point about the native language and script was to highlight the difficulties the fresh-off-the-boat European nuns and priests had to learn a foreign language, written in a foreign script, with a different phonetics and an accent, with no multilingual teacher. Stephen arrived in 1579. Till he came and wrote the grammar and Romi script (which the Europeans could follow), and translated the catechism and bible to Romi Konkani, the European priests likely found it difficult to learn, translate, and transmit their Latin religion in the native language. Learning a language as an adult is a lot more difficult than learning as a child. Clearly, there must have been a lot of sign language in use as both sides tried to communicate with each other.
13-14. You criticize my "sweeping, unsubstantiated claim, that the 'majority' of Goa’s early-colonial population consisted of Europeans or mestiços." Yet you gladly accept and quote "Estimates place them at only a few thousand individuals versus hundreds of thousands of the native population. Disney, Boxer, Teotonio R de Souza." Why don't you demand data from all these sources, too? Perhaps another article of ours will analyze the likelihood of Goa's demographics in 1555. As far as the Bardez conversions, you will need to read the writings of natives, which I quote in my article -Fr. Cosme Jose Costa SFX (Society of Pilar), - Christianity and Nationalism in Aldona, and Alphie Monteiro - The Bardeskars: The Mystery of Migration.
You claim “the bulk of conversions in Bardez took place between 1560-95." (no data). Yet during this period, the European population was “only a few thousand individuals,” and only a small fraction of them were priests. They had major language and cultural barriers. I am not trying to play gotcha! I am just trying to be real in facing the challenges they faced. It appears that after some foot-dragging, the Viceroy (rather than the bishop) in 1555 (20 years after the taluka acquisition) assigned the three talukas to the different orders. So now, likely there were no excuses, and there was assigned responsibility. At this point, there was also a diktat from Lisbon that the Estado would establish schools (an attraction to keep the Whites in Goa). Stephen's first book was titled Krista Purana (Discurso sobre a vinda de Jesus Cristo - Story of Christ, published in 1616) about 17 years after the arrival of the linguist. The book, related to the events in the life of Christ in the form of a poem, used a mix of Marathi & Konkani vocabulary, printed in the Roman script. Stephen is also the author of Doutrina Christam em Lingoa Bramana Canarim - a Christian catechism book written in Konkani and printed at Rachol Seminary in 1622. So till then, there was no structured published catechism book in Konkani.
You and others seem to take each statement I write and analyze it in isolation, rather than looking at a perspective as part of the narrative, trying to make a point that I want to make. Result: Catch the bull by the many tails! I am sure you understand that the readers need to try and understand what the writer is sharing and have an open mind, rather than inserting their own preconceived thoughts into the writing. The history of Vietnam written in the 1980s is very different from the same event written in 2000. That is how academia grows. Many of the “unaddressed issues” have nothing to do with the topic of my presentation, which, as a reminder, is “Why did Western Europe Colonize the World”. My article analyzes conversion in Goa, as that is often claimed by historians as the high priority reason for coming to India. Frankly, you just hijacked the topic of my presentation to suit your own narratives. And that is your prerogative. I will be happy to continue to discuss the issues if you define what the issue is and the point you are trying to make. We have shared in the past that a lot of claims made by historians about Goa, including about the Inquisition, lack hard data.
Regards, GL
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Jeanne Hromnik
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Selma Carvalho
Jeanne Hromnik
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Frederick Noronha
Hi Gilbert,
Since you invite counterpoints, let me respond without allowing myself to go off-track. My goal is to focus on inconsistencies or factual inaccuracies.Below are some core issues.
1. Narrowing and widening the topic inconsistently
You emphasise that we stick to the question “Why did Western Europe colonize the world?” But many long sections of your own argument also shift to:
- Bardez conversions
- Demographic speculations
- Camões’ exile
- Learning Konkani
- The arrival of the Roman script
- Missionary training
- Stephens' (not Stephen's) grammar and catechisms
2. Selective standards of evidence
Several of your key claims are presented without data:
- That Europeans or mestiços formed a large portion of early Goan society,
- That priests “must have used sign language,”
- That conversions were impossible before Romi Konkani existed,
- That fresh arrivals had “no multilingual teachers,”
- Or that pre-Stephensian Roman-script Konkani works could not have existed simply because we lack surviving copies, or because these did not go into print.
3. Factual inaccuracies that undermine key premises
Some core statements that you present do not hold up historically:
- The recurrence of plague in Europe into the 18th century does not mean the “Dark Ages” continued into that era.
- Manueline culture did not arise after colonial wealth; it thrived precisely during early Portuguese expansion (Manuel I: 1495–1521).
- Luís de Camões was not an example of Portugal “sending the unwanted” to colonies as the degredado was. Camões was not a “poster child for sending the unwanted”; he was exiled due to a court altercation, not penal deportation like degredados.
- Iberian maritime expansion began well before the end of the Reconquista (see, for instance, Ceuta: 1415; Madeira: 1420s; and the Guinea coast: 1440s).
4. Causal oversimplification
The links you identify (Crusaders returning home, the end of the Reconquista, unrest among the knights, or the Ottoman advance) are an important part of history. But, in themselves, these do not form a sufficient explanation for global colonial expansion.
Economic incentives, maritime innovations, centralised State-building, competition among European monarchies, the bullion crisis (c. 1370–1450, when Europe faced a severe shortage of silver and gold that disrupted trade and monetary stability) and attempts to capital accumulation all predate or exceed the factors you emphasise.
This creates an impression of post hoc reasoning (assuming that because event B happened after event A, event A must have caused event B) rather than a well-supported causal model.
5. Mischaracterization of my arguments
Some rebuttals respond to points that were not actually made by me—for example, implying that the Padroado Real was presented as a “reason for colonization,” or that we are agreeing on points 4 and 5. In these two points, my argument is based on the long Atlantic coastline, Portugal's early mastery of navigation and the need to break Muslim-controlled trade routes firstly.... which don't feature in any of your arguments. Secondly is my attempt to focus on the fact that a number of important and strategic posts were taken well after 1515---Diu (1535/1546), Bassein (1534), Ceylon (mid-16th c.), Mombasa (1593)
This introduces strawmen that distract from your core thesis or the arguments being used to shore them up.
6. Treating speculation as certainty
Statements such as “there must have been sign language,” or “conversions must have been difficult without grammar,” or “Europeans likely faced great barriers” are plausible but remain speculative. This isn't evidence to support your wider argument. Treating speculation as fact leads to weak inferences and will invite legitimate critique.
7. Internal contradiction regarding language
On the one hand, you argue that language barriers can somehow explain conversion, colonisation and missionary action. But, on the other hand, and at the same time, you treat any discussion of scripts, texts and Stephens' chronology as irrelevant to your thesis. If language is central to your argument, then the linguistic reality of those times cannot be simultaneously dismissed when it complicates your narrative.... or you get details incorrect (such as Stephens' Kristapurana being in the Nagari script).
8. Tone inconsistency
Although you repeatedly emphasise openness to dialogue, your allegations suggest that I have “hijacked” the discussion or that I misunderstood your writing. This rhetorical move redirects the debate from substance to personal positioning; it makes it harder for me to engage on the basis of facts.
Your core question—why Western Europe expanded globally—is an important one and your enthusiasm for a broader dialogue is welcome. Strengthening your argument would possibly require:
- Consistent standards of evidence,
- Clear separation between background context and causal explanation,
- Avoiding errors or oversights on basic facts,
- More careful handling of historical chronology,
- Avoidance of speculative claims framed as certainties,
- Engagement with established scholarship even when it challenges your perspective.
FN
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Gilbert Lawrence
Frederick Noronha
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alan machado
Hello Gilbert
I’d like to comment on some of the issues you raised (quoted in red).
1. While the colony in Goa was established in 1510, the first reported conversion occurred in 1535.
Albuquerque Commentaries documents Goans who converted even before his second capture of Goa in November 1510.
Extract from my latest book 1510: The Taking of Goa being published by FN:
Rodrigo Rebelo is most mentioned among the very few converts named. He first appears on February 27, 1511 when he was given a bale of sugar, and on March 6, 1511 when 20 loaves of bread were sent to him and those with him. These quantities suggest the number of men he commanded. In July, another Rebelo, Antonio, passed on information of a Bijapuri invasion, and converted to Christianity along with his Rodrigo’s wife. Rodrigo received his gifts for converting in October. Both captains assumed the surname of the captain of Goa, Rodrigo Rebelo.
2. Satisfied with his lucrative trade and extensive empire, DM forgot about spreading the ‘Word of Christ.’ The frustrated Pope dispatched Francis Xavier (Feast Day- December 3), a co-founder of the Jesuits, to Goa to start the job. He arrived in May 1542
Don Manuel (DM) it is DOM Manuel not Don Manuel
Extract from a second book Goa's Inquisition- A Terrible Tribunal? that will follow:
The Catholic religion was part of the ideological package that Portugal employed to draw the many diverse ethnic peoples that constituted the Estado da India into the Nação Portuguesa, a complex national identity that encompassed Portugal’s historical, religious, cultural, and colonial legacies.
3. In Goa, the frequent Bijapur-Hampi clashes of the 15th century were replaced by a series of Lusitano-Bijapur clashes in the 16th century,
Vijayanagara was defeated on the battlefield of Talikota in 1560 by a Bijapur-led alliance of Islamic States.
4. Konkani, the spoken language, had to be learnt by linguists like the Englishman Fr. Thomas Stephens/ Estevao SJ, then put it to script (likely Devanagari and Kannadi) after developing a grammar.
If you are implying Konkani, being a spoken language, did not have a grammar, you are wrong. Stephens documented this grammar in his Arte da Lingoa Canarim in 1616.
5. In India (Hindu and Muslim rule) and in Europe, the principle followed by the kings was Cujust regio ejus religio, the religion of the king is the religion of the subjects
Incorrect. In India, a ruler’s subjects were allowed to follow a number of religious sects later clubbed under “Hinduism”. Cujus regio ejus religio was the concept employed in Germany (Treaty of Augsburg, 1555) to establish peace between Lutheran and Catholic states. It allowed the free emigration of peoples to states in which their religion was the same as that of the king. As for states ruled by Muslim kings in India, the majority population was always non-Muslim. For instance, barely 5% of the population in Tipu’s Sultanate-i-Khudadad were Muslim.
6. Church history suggests much of the early conversion in Bardez was during 1600-25, long after Hindu persecution to displace them and make room for White settlers
Incorrect. The Tombo do Aldona and the Inquisition’s auto da fe lists reveal the names of a number of converts in the late 16th century.
Can you specify the manner of Hindu persecution please?
White settlers: The 1720 census reveals the following:
Ilhas: total population 70,313. Brancos (whites) 968
Salcete: total population 73,403. Brancos 210
Bardes: total population 64,548. Brancos 232
Source: Paulo Lopes Matos. O Numeramento de Goa de 1720.
7. The four places you quote are part of the more than 100 feitorias Portugal established along the African-Asian coastline.
100 feitorias? Antonio Bocarro, who compiled details of Portuguese forts and factories for the Portuguese Court in 1635, lists just a few. O Livro das plantas de todas as fortalezas, cidades e povoações do Estado da Índia Oriental [1635]. Could you share the names of these 100 factories please?
Incidently Boccaro’s book is available for download from Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal or Internet Archive.
I believe when we place our work in the public forum we need to be very careful in verifying our sources and referencing them so that they can be accessible to those interested in checking for themselves. Perhaps they will come up with different interpretations and conclusions; that is fine.
Alan
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Gilbert Lawrence
Gilbert Lawrence
FN wrote:
Your core question—why Western Europe expanded globally—is an important one and your enthusiasm for a broader dialogue is welcome. Strengthening your argument would possibly require:
- Consistent standards of evidence,
- Clear separation between background context and causal explanation,
- Avoiding errors or oversights on basic facts,
- More careful handling of historical chronology,
- Avoidance of speculative claims framed as certainties,
- Engagement with established scholarship even when it challenges your perspective.
I hope this helps to refine the argument. As you say, dialogue sharpens thinking.
GL responds:
Thank you for validating the need to examine this issue, rather than just repeating the same old clichés. So hopefully, Goan and Indian authors will not glibly reproduce this rationale, despite what the A-I tells them. Thank you also for giving me the pointers to "strengthen my arguments."
Thank you for confirming for me what Goa-related facts exist and what are conjectures, despite being stated by Western authors.
Perhaps I should invite you to write your version of events and rationale that led to "Why did Western (and not Eastern) Europe Colonize the World?" You can even use the A-I assistance in the process. I have to caution writers that using an A.I.-generated writing process will produce the customary Eurocentric thought process and version of events. I will be glad to coordinate and co-work with India / Goan residents researching both eastern and western literature.
To address one of Alan Machado’s points (Number 7), please see Hugo Cardoso's papers and his excellent maps of South Asia with Portuguese-lexified Creole communities. I was referring to feitorias across the entire Asia and Africa coastline, and not merely South Asia.
In all the pointers FN and Alan raise, which I sincerely welcome, neither attempt to address the main topic of the paper: Why did Western Europe colonize the World?" Is it the usual ‘Spice (wealth) and Souls’ Theory? Why the reluctance?
Regards, GL
Frederick Noronha
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Eugene Correia
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Vivek Pinto
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Roland Francis
Dear Friends,
The following excerpt (please see below) is from The New Yorker. It was published in its print edition March 13, 2017. It is perhaps relevant to our present discussion in broad terms.Thank you,Vivek Pinto-----------------------"Matters of Fact
you seek to go? History belongs in the past, but understanding it is the duty of the present.”
Frederick Noronha
Delia Maria
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*** Please be polite and on-topic in your posts. ***
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